India's BrahMos missiles “blew out” Pakistan’s Chinese-made HQ-9B air defence systems during Operation Sindoor, complicating any future attempts by Islamabad to restart a conflict with India, noted US defence analyst Brandon J. Weichert claimed. The conflict proved how the Chinese systems were "junk" which could not stop even drones, he added.
Brandon J. Weichert, senior national security editor at The National Interest, minced no words while claiming that the conflict in May 2025 offered a reality check for Pakistan, as they had no answer to India's BrahMos challenge. When the Chinese HQ-9Bs—which were sold to them by Beijing with the claim of being a cheaper yet effective substitute for the Russian S-300 air defence system—failed miserably, Islamabad was forced to swallow another bitter pill, he claimed.
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Beijing is Pakistan's top defence dealer (clarifying the dealer-buyer relationship), and the two countries shook hands over an initial purchase of the HQ-9B in 2021. These systems were upgraded again in 2024, as China continued to assert that their product was as good as the Russian machinery that India relied upon.
China's air defence not even close to Russian S-400
It turns out the HQ-9B’s semi-active radar made it easy for India to launch precision strikes at the defensive formations around Lahore and Sialkot. "Not only did this mean the Indian Air Force had a clear line-of-sight targeting on these air defence systems, but it meant that Indian forces could deploy a variety of attacks against the HQ-9Bs in Pakistan—which led to their ultimate destruction," the noted author wrote.
By the time Pakistan realised its air defence systems were incapable of taking out even "slow-moving drones" sent by India, it was too late, he added.
Brandon J. Weichert further quoted Andrei Martyanov, a Russian military expert, to claim that the Pakistani air-defence systems stood no chance against India's BrahMos onslaught. Martyanov reportedly told Weichert that HQ-9Bs “performed abysmally in Pakistan. They cannot intercept anything supersonic—or even anything subsonic!”
Read Brandon J. Weichert's column in full HERE
"This is the real reason why the Indian government was so excited to have access to the full breadth of the BrahMos missile system. That system, unlike the Chinese-made HQ-9Bs, was extremely effective. Martyanov told me that the Indian BrahMos system ‘blew out’ Pakistan’s Chinese-made HQ-9Bs during the conflict," he wrote.
The expert called the HQ-9B a "Frankenstein's Monster" created by China. It is believed that the country managed to develop the untested system by reverse-engineering an S-300 that it had bought from Russia at some point. It is safe to assume that some technology from the S-400, as well as stolen Israeli and US components, was also used to accomplish its dream of creating an indigenous long-range air defence system. However, Pakistan became the scapegoat; when it was finally tested on the battlefield against India, it failed to do its job.
Who is Brandon J. Weichert?
A former US Congressional staffer who holds an M.A. in Statecraft and National Security Affairs, Weichert is the brain behind the geopolitical analysis site The Weichert Report. He was a consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense and has authored several books.